Syria represents the quandary of what it is to be human
amongst great diversity. Everyone knows what right action looks like in
relation to the people of Syria. I cannot imagine right now what it must feel
like to be an ordinary human in Syria right now. If I were, my ears would be
pointed like a deer’s, hoping for the sound of help, for some respite; someone
to stop the remorseless killing of my friends and neighbours. As a Syrian I imagine
I must have some concept of the west as a place of great freedom, choice and
humanity. But all around is silence.
And the immediate reason for this silence is obvious.
Although all the nations that surround her and are kin to her, want to reach
out a helping hand, no one dares because Russia backed by China says - hands
off. Don’t you dare! The only reason from Putin’s point of view, for Western or
Arab intervention in Syria is for imperialist political reasons. Putin of
course, who is well in charge of Russia, now treats his own citizens not dissimilarly
to the way Assad treats his people. It is just that there is a veneer of law in
case anyone is looking and rather than killing his citizens, he throws them in
jail. ‘You don’t care’, runs Putin’s refrain. This is not about humanity as you
make out; it is about using your influence to our disadvantage. And
unfortunately there is some truth there. The major powers don’t move generally
without calculating the advantages and disadvantages on the world’s stage. In
this our leaders don’t differ much from individuals. The standoff in Syria is
not much different from a scene from a schoolyard with the playground bullies
facing off against each other with their followers and sycophants all weighing up,
where they will be safest, who it is best to follow. For schoolyard read any
place where we interact with each other.
But since 9/11 there has been a change in global
consciousness. Although the major powers still act much as they always have,
there is now a growing body of people, who irrespective of what country they
live in, want to be able to live an authentic life. The ‘Occupy’ movement, the
‘Arab Spring’, the growing restlessness of peoples generally, in almost every
country in the world to live what can be seen as a life that realizes
reasonable human aims, within a framework of stability and civil peace. The
people in Syria, Egypt, Libya; all wanted that. So do the unemployed in the
USA; so do the ‘demonstrators’ in Russia who are now being jailed for standing
up for their principles, so did the rioting youth in England. There is a cult
of privilege that sits like a lid over every county in the world. People are
sick of the games politicians and multinationals play. What a relief it would
be to have someone stand for office that you might honestly feel was really on
the side of ‘people’, not vested interest.
With Syria; to protect their personal world power, Russia
and China stand in the way of outside intervention. To call their bluff, might
quite likely lead to war on an unprecedented scale! Or it may break the
stalemate. To get it wrong might be disastrous. On the other hand to stand on
the sidelines as the whole world is doing right now is in a sense to be cowed
and intimidated by the classroom bully. Yet there are no boundaries around
right and wrong. The battle taking place in the USA between the Republican and
Democratic visions of life is not different from the battle raging around
Syria. And there is not a goody and a baddy.
There is nothing wrong and everything right with
the Republican vision of freedom, to make a go of life unrestrained and
uninhibited by rules and regulations designed for fairness and equality. If
fairness and equality means bringing us all down to an equal playing field how
is this different from the utopian communist state that would make sure that we
all have as equal outcome as possible no matter what effort we put in. And
quite frankly I agree. And yet there is no utopian communist state. 
